Most moments at the Academy Awards ceremony are predictable, maybe even boring. But there are times when the show takes a turn.
That happened Sunday when actor Will Smith apparently slapped comedian Chris Rock over a comment Rock made about Smith’s wife.
While it stunned the audience at the ceremony and those watching at home, it isn’t the first time the Oscars have surprised the audience.
Here are some other shocking moments from past Oscar telecasts:
And you are?
In 1962 a New York cabdriver who fancied himself the greatest gate-crasher in history, made his way onto the Oscar stage to present an award.
After actors Shelley Winters and Vincent Edwards presented an award for cinematography, Stan Berman came to the microphone and introduced himself saying, “I just came here to present Bob Hope with his 1938 trophy.” Winters laughed and said, “We’ll give it to him.”
Berman left the trophy with Winters and walked off the stage.
Hope, who was hosting the ceremony, came back with, “Who needs PriceWaterhouse? All we need is a doorman.”
Brando doesn’t show, but Sacheen Littlefeather did
Actor Marlon Brando was nominated for his performance in 1972′s “The Godfather.” On the night of the Oscar ceremony, Liv Ullmann and Roger Moore were co-presenting the award and Ullmann announced that Brando had won.
Instead of Brando coming onstage, Native American actress and activist Sacheen Littlefeather came out to the microphone.
“Marlon Brando very regretfully cannot accept this very generous award,” she said. “And the reasons for this being are the treatment of American Indians today by the film industry and on television … and also with recent happenings at Wounded Knee. I beg at this time that I have not intruded upon this evening and that we will in the future, our hearts and our understandings will meet with love and generosity.”
Streaking across the stage
In 1974, streaking, or running in public without any clothes on, was all the rage and even the Oscar ceremony was not safe from the spectacle.
Actor David Niven was onstage, introducing Elizabeth Taylor, when Robert Opel came out from behind the curtain, wearing only a smile, and ran across the stage.
Niven, unflappable as he was in the characters he played, delivered a line that has gone down in Oscar history.
“Isn’t it fascinating to think that probably the only laugh that man will ever get in his life is by stripping off and showing his shortcomings?”
And you are? The sequel
In 2014, it was up to John Travolta to introduce actress Idina Menzel who was going to sing the hit song “Let It Go,” from the movie “Frozen.”
Travolta asked the audience to welcome the “wickedly talented, one and only Adele Dazeem.”
Travolta later said he was trying to read the phonetic spelling of Menzel’s name on the teleprompter.
Menzel returned the favor the next year by introducing Travolta as her “very dear friend Glom Gazingo.”
And the Oscar goes to … wait, not you
In 2017, Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway, the stars of the movie “Bonnie & Clyde,” were asked to present the award for Best Picture.
The couple went to the microphone with Beatty holding the envelope. He opened it and Dunaway announced the winner as “La La Land.”
The cast from the movie came to the stage and about three minutes into their speech accepting the award, the movie’s producer, Jordan Horowitz, took the microphone and announced there had been a mistake.
“There’s a mistake. ‘Moonlight’ — you guys won Best Picture. This is not a joke. Come up here.”
Beatty had been given the wrong envelope.
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